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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Going Under (the knife)

Tomorrow at 3:45 pm Eastern time, I will be in surgery to reconnect the radial digital nerve in my left thumb.

I'm a little nervous about this, even though there is basically no chance of anything going wrong. My surgeon is the guy who reattaches your arm when it gets cut off in a car accident, so this procedure is practically a cakewalk for him. My biggest complaint is that the procedure will be done under general anesthesia rather than local.

My objections are threefold:
  • One, this is outpatient surgery on my hand; why do I need to be unconscious? 
  • Two, anesthesia is kind of unnatural for the body. I've been knocked out for surgery twice in my life, and coming out of it was always a nasty experience for me because it seemed like it took my body forever to "wake up" -- you don't know what performance anxiety is unless you've been told by a nurse that you can't leave until you pee, and despite running the faucet and thinking pee thoughts nothing comes out, no matter how hard you strain. 
  • Three, and this probably relates to my neurosis regarding point two, I am a control freak and don't like being unconscious and therefore out of control. I'd much rather they just get me high on painkiller, strap my arm to a table, and go to work that way. But alas, my opinion was not consulted in this matter. 
 So barring a freak accident, I should be fine tomorrow. But prayers for a safe operation and speedy recovery are welcome regardless. :)

2 comments:

  1. I look forward to your post about how successfully the surgery was.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You've got my prayers. And I hate general anesthesia, too. It always leaves me nauseous.

    Let us know how it went when you can type again.

    ReplyDelete